“I’m here to tell you how to become the best Thai gardener the world has ever seen…

… Not really, but if you want to go that way – let me know, I can hook you up”

With a slightly depressing story about cycling in the rain, Mark van der Heijden immediately grabs the attention of the Amsterdam audience.

Mark: “I really thought, is this it? Is this going to be it for the rest of my life? No, it wasn’t.” He discovered his vocation as ‘The Backpacker Intern’.

In his talk, he pleads for a ‘digital nomad’ lifestyle, which allows to combine traveling the world and gaining a living. As a digital nomad “your daily routine is different. Every day is an adventure.”

“By travelling and going out there, I got to know so many interesting people. The barriers between human beings started to disappear. While we may not be the same culturally speaking, we are all connected. The more people you know, the more you know yourself. All of us are on this journey of life. Imagine a life where your root to life is always different. Along the way, it won’t always be easy. You’ll face fears, but ultimately, you’ll discover that the final destination is yourself.”

Tonight’s host Reinier Demeijer challenges us to pay less attention to screens – which is indeed challenging to most of us! “Please put your phone away and look one minute in your neighbours eyes,” says Reinier. What follows is some awkward laughing, but then a dedicated audience takes up the challenge and puts down their phone. Let’s stare!

The doors are open, the crowds are pouring in and our speakers are roaring to go.

With only a few hours remaining until the start of this year’s TEDxAUCollege event, please take a moment with us and read this interview with Martha Montero-Sieburth. This teacher of Amsterdam University College and the University of Amsterdam will introduce ‘death’ as a fifth dimension. In her words: the unknown, undefined, and undiscovered. Red Pers’ writer Keeke van Paassen spoke with her about her diverse cultural background, decades old Mexican traditions, and losing your beloved ones.

We’re less than eight hours away from TEDxAUCollege presents The Fifth Dimension. From 18:00 on, eight speakers will give their TED-talks in the KIT Royal Tropical Institute. Two of them are the winners of this year’s Pitch Night, Ella MacLaughlin and Mick ter Reehorst. It is a tradition for TEDxAUCollege to give students a chance to pitch their TED-talks. Last year, AUC student Saga Norrby won with her unique stance on climate change. Red Pers interviewed her recently, on year after her TED-talk. What did TEDxAUCollege bring for her and what has she been doing since last year’s edition? Read the (Dutch) article below.

Tomorrow is the day we have all been waiting for: TEDxAUCollege presents The Fifth Dimension will kick off tomorrow at 18:00 in the KIT Royal Tropical Institute. TEDxAUCollege will partner up with Are We Europe (AWE) and Red Pers to bring you a live coverage of the event. However, before we take off with that, we would like to look back at an interview with the winners of this year’s Pitch Night, Ella MacLaughlin and Mick ter Reehorst. The interview was conducted by Laurien Knorringa and Sarah Borgerdijn, two writers from Red Pers.